PARIS (AP) — “Thought you’d seen it all in football? Never a game like this!”
That line in German news magazine Der Spiegel was just one of many attempts around Europe to sum up the back-and-forth action of Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-4 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League final.
“A match for the history books,” wrote Spanish newspaper As.
In Britain, The Sun called it “Game of the Century.”
In France, former defender Bixente Lizarazu, who won the 1998 World Cup with France and the 2001 Champions League with Bayern, was particularly impressed with the first half of the game. PSG led 3-2 at the break, making it the first Champions League semifinal to feature five goals before halftime.
“It was like boxing,” Lizarazu said. “Each side took punches and was able to respond. The intensity was incredibly high.”
Not only the retired players were watching. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was also full of praise, posting on social media a picture of the game with the caption: “This is football.”
PSG has now scored 43 goals in this Champions League campaign. Only Barcelona has managed more in a season, netting 45 in 1999-2000.
“We’ll see how it plays out, but with so much talent, anything can happen,” Lizarazu said, looking ahead to next week’s second leg in Munich.
But for all the attacking quality on display, some were less impressed by the defending.
“Ask the goalkeepers if they’re happy,” former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf said on Amazon Prime. “There needs to be a balance. I am all in favor of, when you have the ball, to play attacking football … but you also need to have the balanced defending.”
